Real Estate: Short Sale May Be Best Option when Dealing with Divorce Woes
For someone going through a divorce and facing foreclosure on their home at the same time, a short sale may be the best way to handle a bad situation.
Paul Da Costa, a North Port, Fla., mortgage broker who specializes in foreclosures, said, You’re better off getting your property sold at a short sale than going through the foreclosure process. Every bank is different when it comes to short sales. Some will send you a short sale package to fill out and others will tell you they can’t do anything for 90 days.”
A real estate short sale is when a home sells for less than an individual owes the bank on his mortgage. Obviously it requires bank approval. A person in this situation needs to be proactive and contact his bank immediately. Tell your banker, ‘I’m going to list my house with a Realtor who understands the foreclosure market,'” Da Costa said. The bank is going to ask you to tell them your story. They want to know why you believe you qualify for a short sale.”
To qualify you must have had serious problems that caused financial reverses: a divorce, illness, lost your job or your business failed, for example. The hardship letter is key. I counsel my clients to give the banker in detail what happened in their case to make it impossible for them to continue to make the mortgage payments,” Da Costa said.
After you get your property listed with a Realtor knowledgeable in the foreclosure process, a potential buyer will make an offer on the property. This information is submitted to the bank,” he said. At that point the bank will send someone out to make a competitive market analysis of the property. The banker will then decide if he is willing to accept the short sale offer. It’s at this point the negotiation for the sale of the house begins.”
The first three things I ask someone who comes to see me about working with them on selling their home before the bank forecloses on it:
1. Have you talked to the bank? In 99 percent of these cases they haven’t. ·
2. Have you talked to a real estate attorney? Their answer is almost always, ‘No.’
3. Have you talked to a Realtor® about selling your property? That’s a 50-50 proposition.”
At that point Da Costa said that’s when he attempts to help them out. He emphasized that time is of the essence. I give them the names of three competent Realtors® I’ve used in the past they can contact. I also give the names of a couple of knowledgeable real estate attorneys,” he said.
Once the bank realizes I’ve become involved in the foreclosure process the situation for the individual in the bind with his housed usually improves. Bankers realized they are dealing with a licensed mortgage broker who understands the foreclosure process and is trying to help,” Da Costa said.
A short sale is absolutely the way to go if you’re facing foreclosure and you don’t have any equity in your property. It’s far better than letting the bank take your property,” Ralph Nudi, a Kenosha, Wisc. Realtor® said. The best piece of advice I can tell anyone going through a foreclosure is: ‘Move quickly!’ Most people wait too long before finding a knowledgeable Realtor®,” he said. Then it’s too late for a short sale.”
One of the major problems for someone dealing with foreclosure is finding a Realtor® with foreclosure experience. Most Realtors® have little or know experience in dealing with short sales.In Kenosha County, Wisc., where Nudi’s office is located, he says, “it’s the second worst county in the state for foreclosures. We’ve had 60 foreclosures this week alone and they’re not slowing down.”
Nudi has been in the real estate business for 17 years. For the past two and a half years his office has worked with sellers who required short sales help. His office has handled approximately 100 of them.
John Mc Connin, a San Diageo, Calif., attorney who specializes in foreclosures, said if you’re contemplating a short sale, “¦get the lender to release you from your deficiency. If you can accomplish that it’s a good deal.”
However, he adds, if the banker won’t agree to that then it’s time to obtain an attorney’s services.”A person facing foreclosure needs to consider all his options. Some lenders will let you off the loan, but won’t release you from the liability. Others will agree to a short-sale, but will say nothing about your liability. That’s when you need to see a lawyer.”
In California, for example, a short sale may not be your best option because of the complexities of consumer protection. You shouldn’t begin the short sale process until you spoken to a lawyer, McConnin said. Vincent Bindi, the broker at Orange County CA Real Estate, says, The best piece of advice I can give someone facing foreclosure is to find a local real estate professional that has extensive experience in short sales. I emphasize ‘local’ because he will be the one that will be selling your home.”
Like the others Realtors® interviewed, Bindi said,” A short sale is the best way to go nine times out of 10, assuming you can’t afford the mortgage payment anymore and you have no equity in your home. If there’s equity in the home there are other options.”
He added that it’s not an easy job to convince a bank it should give a mortgage holder the opportunity to take advantage of a short sale. You have to present a case to the bank that your client is insolvent and can’t pay his mortgage. The person requesting a short sale can’t have major assets sitting somewhere else, like a $100,000 IRA or other real estate holdings,” Bindi said.
He has sold real estate since 1989. His office has handled some 65 short sale transactions in the past couple of years.
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